At a mission conference, I bunked with a seminary classmate whom I hadn’t seen since we’d graduated. He was nearly 20 years my senior; ministry was a path he had pursued after other career endeavors. At bedtime, there in a smallish dormitory room, he politely asked, “Do you mind if I say my usual prayers?” “Of course not,” I said.

In his pajamas, he knelt on the floor beside his bed, folded his hands, and proceeded through his prayer list. I flushed, feeling a bit ashamed. No, I was not ashamed that a man nearly 50 years old—and who was a former college teacher and current church pastor—would be down on his knees saying bedtime prayers like a child. My shame was that my own prayer life was so meager, so sporadic, so detached—that I was usually too preoccupied to let myself pause in prayer as humbly and devotedly as this man was doing.

Prayer is a work of faith

Something the Lord’s brother James had said ran through my head. “Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2:18). An application of that verse struck me: “Show me your faith that exists without praying, and I’ll show you my faith by my praying.” Of course, my praying friend had not intended to show off. He believed very much in the Lord’s admonition: “When you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6). It was only because there was no private place in the small space we shared that I was able to witness what normally would have been done in secret.

Nevertheless, the experience stuck with me and has made me more aware of prayer. Prayer is like breathing for a believer. A soul that is alive in Christ breathes in words from God and breathes out thoughts and words directed toward God. People of faith are people who pray. James warned, “Faith without deeds is dead” (James 2:26). Prayer is perhaps the most primary deed produced by faith. Faith without prayer, we could say, is dead.

Prayer is personal communication